Description:
Official Chinese history has always been written from a centrist
viewpoint. "Chieftains into Ancestors" describes the
intersection of imperial administration and chieftain-dominated local
culture in the culturally diverse southwestern region of China.
Contemplating the rhetorical question of how one can begin to rewrite
the story of a conquered people whose past was never transcribed in the
first place, the authors combine anthropological fieldwork with
historical textual analysis to build a new regional
history - one that recognizes the ethnic, religious, and
gendered transformations that took place in China's
nation-building process.
Review Quotes: We need to examine state expansion from the perspective of local societies and, with "Chieftains into Ancestors," we now have the conceptual and methodological tools to do this. This is historical anthropology and micro-history at its best.
- John E. Herman, author of "Amid the Clouds and Mist: China's Colonization of Guizhou, 1200-1700"